01.08.2019 | Corruption crimes in Gegharkunik Region and indicators of revealing damage to the state have tripled

The prosecutor's office of Gegharkunik Region has summed up the activities of the criminal prosecution bodies by the cases of corruption crimes detected in the region, as well as the results of the initiation of the prosecutor's office in the field of state interests protection for the first semester of 2019.

The investigation has indicated that for the first 6 months of this year 38 criminal cases have been initiated for corruption under the supervision and guidance of prosecutors of the Prosecutor’s Office of Gegharkunik region.

These indicators have been tripled compared to the same period of the previous year / in the previous year - 12 /, and compared to the whole year, the indicators have been decreased by 4.

Out of the mentioned corruption cases 7 have been registered in the field of education, 20 - in local government bodies, 1 - in the cadastral, 4 - in the field of environmental protection, 1 - in the field of healthcare, 3 - in state social welfare, 1 - in the field of transport and communications, 1 in the field of state property management.

Explicit corruption crimes have been manifested mainly in the implementation of misappropriation or embezzlement using one's official position, abuse of official position, giving and receiving a bribe, official forgery, abuse of power by employees of a commercial or other organization, and falsification of documents.

Within the framework of 12 criminal cases initiated in the first 6 months of 2019, 23 persons have been prosecuted, 6 of them have been heads of districts, 1 - director of a district organization, 1 –school principal, 1 - credit institution manager, 1 - director of forestry, 11 - other officials, 1 - head of social security and 1 - employee of the post office. Moreover, only against 2 detention as a measure of restraint has been applied.

In the indicated period, 5 criminal cases have been sent to court with indictment (in respect of 7 persons), and 6 criminal cases have been completed.

Within the framework of the completed 8 criminal cases, the damage caused to the state has amounted to 45.2 million drams. It is significant that the specified damage in the result of the activities of the prosecutors of prosecutor’s office of Gegharkunik region has been restored and amounted to 44.6 million drams. The court has not considered cases regarding damage caused to the state.

In the field of state interests protection, prosecutor’s office of Gegharkunik region has initiated a civil lawsuit regarding the seizure of damage caused to the state in the amount of 1.2 million drams, the investigation of which is still in progress.

In addition to that, by the order of prosecutor’s office of Gegharkunik region, based on the prepared materials, 2 criminal cases have been initiated, by which the total damage caused to the state has amounted to 68.7 million drams, and from this amount 30 million drams have been recovered. Measures are being taken to restore the rest of the damage.